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I’m So Excited – Sex, Drugs, and The Pointer Sisters

It’s been a long time since Pedro Almodóvar didn’t direct a comedy. After a series of drama movies, thrillers etc. he came back with I’m So Excited (original title: Los Amantes Pasajeros), an offbeat, demented, sexually liberated and colorful film. And I freaking loved it!

The story takes place on a plane flying to Mexico, but which can’t land there, nor anywhere else, due to some odd activity down on Earth. Thus, the movie will focus on the passengers, and more especially the ones in the business class and in the cockpit, considering the fact that the economical class, and stewardess have been drugged, so they’re basically, immersed into a deep sleep.

The situation, is not very taking seriously by the crew; the stewards are continuously drunk, and seeking drugs, and pilots were more concerned about their pretty bizarre relationships with guys, and some of them happened to be the stewards actually. In a nutshell, this is a quite big mishmash of sex-relationships and discoveries, and little by little, you learned that the whole crew is actually the fucking gay community reunited!
Now, among the business class, we’ll find a couple going on a honeymoon, an old luxury prostitute, a hitman on a mission, a running away business guy, an unfaithful actor, and a 40years-old virgin psychic, and, they were all panicking.

What should we do when people are panicking? Of course, dancing on “I’m Sot Exited” of the Pointer Sisters!

The stewards performed a choreography in order to relax the atmosphere, but of course, that didn’t work, on the opposite it made things a little worse, accentuating the belief of their lack of professionalism among the passengers. But the grotesque and ridiculous scene was quite funny, and really showed the craziness of Almodóvar’s work. However, the icing on the cake was when drugs were found: mescaline, which is the drug of luve. It was the honey moon guy, who furnished the stewards, and these ones put some in the drinks, and very quickly, everyone was banging everyone. And I must say, there were two scenes when I thought and almost yelled: “what the hell is wrong with you people?!”; the virgin, walked into the economical class, and abused a young sleeping guy and the honey moon girl, who was sleepwalking, had sex with her husband. That’s basically the spirit of Los Amantes Pasajeros, and I think we should not ask ourselves a lot of questions while watching it. Or maybe think that it is just trivializing sex in general.

Nonetheless, what is interesting in the movie, is that all characters have something particular, something special to add to the whole nuts comedy. Indeed, throughout the film, you discover about those people lives, as they do themselves, trying to fix little by little what’s wrong about them, and they’ll soon develop friendly relationships, with no judgmental behaviors, and this will create all the madcap beauty of Los Amantes Pasajeros. And yes, the film is grotesque and might seem a little bit too gay stereotyped? or too sexually liberated? to be funny, but, it is necessary, in my opinion, to watch the movie, as an offbeat comedy, that is pretty much not caring at all about real life codes or fitting into some pre-conceptualized spanish comedy.

The genius of Almodóvar, is proved by the fact that, not only the script is coherent, but the crazy elements are perfectly fitting into it. And well, all the actors, are just flabbergasting and they brought some fresh air, and credit to the director piece of work.

Once again, not disappointed by Pedro Almodóvar, and I think I will never be.